Deuteronomy 33:17

His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns: with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth: and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh.

His glory is like the firstling of his bullock. This animal is remarkable for courage and fierceness. Gerard Vossius ('De Idolatria,' ch. 9:) has expended immense erudition in endeavouring to establish the position, that Joseph is here called an ox, because the figure of that beast was familiarly used in Egypt as a hieroglyphic of the illustrious patriarch, symbolizing his generosity, majesty, and usefulness.

But the vivacity and sportiveness, as well as the great power and indomitable energy of the animal, is what evidently forms the leading idea in this passage, the prominent point of comparison in the address. And the bull was probably chosen as the most appropriate image, since it was not only a familiar object, but reckoned among Semitic nations scarcely less formidable than the lion (Layard, 'Nineveh and its Remains,' 2:, p. 428).

And his horns are like the horns of unicorns, х wªqarneey (H7161) rª'eem (H7214)] - horns of a rª'eem (singular, not plural, as our translators, to get rid of a difficulty, have rendered it in the text, although the correct translation is appended in the margin, probably by Hugh Broughton). [Septuagint, kerata monokerootos; Vulgate, unicorns, one-horned.]

What was the species of this animal, and whether it had a real existence, have been subjects of great diversity of opinion. Buffon and many eminent naturalists since his day have pronounced it entirely fabulous, and denied that a quadruped strictly entitled to be called a unicorn is mentioned in any part of the Bible. It has been alleged that a belief in its existence may have arisen from the horns of some animal seen in profile; for the Assyrian sculptors and painters represent the domestic ox with one horn, as the horses frequently have only two legs and one ear, because the ancient artists did not attempt to give both in a side view of the animal (Layard, 'Nineveh and its Remains,' 2:, p. 430).

[On the other hand, the Septuagint have translated the Hebrew word with the Greek word monokeroos (unicornis), in all passages where it occurs (Numbers 23:22; Job 39:9; Psalms 22:21; Psalms 29:6; Psalms 92:10), with the exception of Isaiah 34:6, where they substitute the vague Greek phrase, hoi adroi, the strong, fat, robust, animals; and it cannot be supposed that they would have adopted such a special rendering of rª'eem (H7214) had they not been familiar with the animal.]

Besides, many modern observers have asserted that they have seen it (Lobo's 'Travels in Abyssinia;' Winer's 'Realwort,' art. 'Einhorn;' 'Quarterly Review,' October, 1820). Notwithstanding the assertions of these travelers, however, it is certain that the animal they describe cannot be the rª'eem (H7214) of the Bible; for it is expressly stated in the passage under review that it had two horns: and, influenced by this statement, Biblical scholars have instituted earnest and laborious inquiries to asscertain what the animal really was.

Jerome, Pagninus, Bruce ('Travels in Abyssinia,' vol. 5:, p. 82), etc., held the opinion that it was the single-tusked rhinoceros (rª'eem, unicornis). Bochart, Rosenmuller, followed by Layard, etc., held that it was a wild goat (Oryx leucoryx), a fierce species of antelope; and that writer says, that Professor Migliarini, of Florence, informed him that the word rª'eem (H7214) itself occurs in the hieroglyphics over a figure of this antelope in an Egyptian sculpture ('Nineveh and its Remains,' 2:, p. 429). Schultens, De Wette, Winer, Gesenius, Robinson understand buffalo (Boa bubulus).

Of these the rhinoceros and the oryx are now generally rejected because not to dwell on various points in Of these, the rhinoceros and the oryx are now generally rejected, because, not to dwell on various points in which they do not answer the conditions of the sacred text, it is clear, from the parallelisms in this verse, and in all the poetical passages where the rª'eem (H7214) is mentioned, that it was an animal of the bovine species, and therefore there remains the claim of the buffalo only to be considered.

'There are large herds,' says Robinson ('Biblical Researches,' 3:, p. 306), 'of horned cattle in Palestine, among which are many buffaloes. In Egypt, as likewise in the center of Palestine, near Tiberias, and around the lake el-Huleh, they are mingled with the meat cattle, and are applied in general to the same uses. But they are a shy, ill-looking, ill-tempered animal. They doubtless existed anciently in Palestine, though probably in a wild state, or unsubdued to labour, as at the present day in Abyssinia. The actual existence of this animal in Palestine leaves little doubt that it is the rª'eem (H7214) of the Hebrew Scriptures-for which both ancient and modern versions have substituted the apparently fabulous unicorn.'

This opinion was generally acquiesced in until, in the recent scientific explorations of Mr. Tristram, a discovery among a mass of bone breccia in the rocks of the Dog River, near Beyrout, was supposed to be made, which has turned the scale strongly in favour of the bison (Bos priscus, or primogenitus). If future researches in Palestine should confirm this conjecture of Mr. Tristram-by the exhumation of other and more perfect specimens of the bison-a subject which has long been a quoestio vexata in Biblical literature will be satisfactorily determined.

With them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth. The verb х yªnagach (H5055)] describes the action of horned cattle, which thrust with the horns; and it is here applied metaphorically to the tribes of Joseph, which would push away the Canaanite occupiers of the land, in order to effect a settlement for themselves. The possessions acquired by Ephraim and Manasseh extended on one side from the Mediterranean to the Jordan, and on the other from the Jordan to the border of Syria (cf. Joshua 17:14).

And they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh. In this clause the metaphor of the horns, which formed the "glory" of Joseph, he explained to mean the multitudes of the double tribe which sprang from the patriarch, as two horns from one head.